Standpoint theory
Encyclopedia
Standpoint theory is a postmodern method for analyzing inter-subjective discourse
s. "Developed primarily by social scientists, especially sociologists & political theorists. It extends some of the early insights about consciousness that emerged from Marxist/socialist feminist theories and the wider conversations about identity politics. It endeavors to develop a feminist epistemology
, or theory of knowledge, that delineates a method for constructing effective knowledge from the insights of women's experience." It arose amongst feminist theorists, such as Dorothy Smith, Nancy Hartsock
, Donna Haraway
, Sandra Harding
, Alison Wylie
, and Patricia Hill Collins
.
According to this approach:
Standpoint theory supports what Harding calls strong objectivity
, or the notion that the perspectives of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals can help to create more objective accounts of the world. Through the outsider-within phenomenon, these individuals are in a unique position to point to patterns of behavior that those immersed in the dominant group culture are unable to recognize. Standpoint theory gives voice to the marginalized groups by allowing them to challenge the status quo as the outsider within. The status quo representing the dominant white male position of privilege.
The predominant culture in which all groups exist is not experienced in the same way by all persons or groups. The views of those who belong to groups with more social power are validated more than those in marginalized groups. Those in marginalized groups must learn to be bicultural, or to "pass" in the dominant culture
to survive, even though that perspective is not their own. For persons of color, in an effort to help organizations achieve their diversity initiatives, there is an expectation that they will check their color at the door in order to assimilate into the existing culture and discursive practices.
Standpoint of black feminist thought
Black feminist thought is a collection of ideas, writings, and art that articulates a standpoint of and for black women of the African Diaspora. Black feminist thought describes black women as a unique group that exists in a “place” in US social relations where intersectional processes of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation shape black women's individual and collective consciousness, self-definitions, and actions As a standpoint theory, black feminist thought conceptualizes identities as organic, fluid, interdependent, multiple, and dynamic socially constructed “locations” within historical context. Black feminist thought is grounded in black women's historical experience with enslavement, anti-lynching movements, segregation, Civil Rights and Black Power movements, sexual politics, capitalism, and patriarchy. Distinctive tenets of contemporary black feminist thought include: (1) the belief that self-authorship and the legitimatization of partial, subjugated knowledge represents a unique and diverse standpoint of and by black women; (2) black women's experiences with multiple oppressions result in needs, expectations, ideologies, and problems that are different than those of black men and white women; and (3) black feminist consciousness is an ever-evolving concept. Black feminist thought demonstrates Black women's emerging power as agents of knowledge. By portraying African-American women as self-defined, self-reliant individuals confronting race, gender, and class oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that knowledge plays in empowering oppressed people.One distinguishing feature of Black feminist thought is its insistence that both the changed consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions constitute essential ingredients for social change. New knowledge is important for both dimensions to change.
Tina Campt
uses standpoint theory to examine the narrative of the Afro-German Hans Hauck
in her book Other Germans.
A feminist standpoint
Feminist standpoint theorists make three principal claims: (1) Knowledge is socially situated. (2) Marginalized groups are socially situated in ways that make it more possible for them to be aware of things and ask questions than it is for the non-marginalized. (3) Research, particularly that focused on power relations, should begin with the lives of the marginalized.
The history of feminist standpoint begins in Hegel’s account of the master/slave dialectic, and subsequently in Marx and, particularly, Lukacs’ development of the idea of the standpoint of the proletariat. In 1807, German philosopher Georg Hegel analyzed the master-slave relationship to show that what people "know" about themselves, others, and society depends on which group they are in.. Hegel stated that slave who were oppressed can eventually reach a state of freedom of consciousness as a result of his or her realization of self-consciousness through struggles against the master, and via involvement through physical labor in projects that enable her/him to fashion the world to affect it in various ways. Hegel further went on to give an example saying that those in captivity have a decidedly different perspective on the meaning of chains, laws, childbirth, and punishment than do their captors who participate in the same "reality." He also added that since masters are backed by the established structure of their society, it is they who have the power to make their view of the world; they are the ones who write the story books.
Feminist standpoint theorists such as Dorothy Smith, Patricia Hill Collins, Nancy Hartsock, and Sandra Harding claimed that certain socio-political positions occupied by women (and by extension other groups who lack social and economic privilege) can become sites of epistemic privilege and thus productive starting points for enquiry into questions about not only those who are socially and politically marginalized, but also those who, by dint of social and political privilege, occupy the positions of oppressors. This claim was specifically generated by Sandra Harding and as such, "Starting off research from women’s lives will generate less partial and distorted accounts not only of women’s lives but also of men’s lives and of the whole social order.”
There has been agreements between feminist standpoint theorist that a standpoint is not just a perspective that is occupied simply by the fact of being a woman. Whereas a perspective is occupied as a matter of the fact of one’s socio-historical position and may well provide the starting point for the emergence of a standpoint, a standpoint is earned through the experience of collective political struggle, a struggle that requires both science and politics. He then went to to say that while both the dominant and the dominated occupy perspectives, the dominated are much more successfully placed to achieve a standpoint. However, this is not saying that those who occupy perspectives that are not-marginalized cannot help in reaching a shared critical conscientious with relation to the effects of power structures and epistemic production. Only through such struggles can we begin to see beneath the appearances created by an unjust social order to the reality of how this social order is in fact constructed and maintained. This need for struggle emphasizes the fact that a feminist standpoint is not something that anyone can have simply by claiming it. It is an achievement. A standpoint differs in this respect from a perspective, which anyone can have simply by ‘opening one’s eyes.’
Strong Objectivity and the relation to feminist standpoint
The notion of strong objectivity was first articulated by feminist philosopher Sandra Harding. Strong objectivity builds on the insights of feminist standpoint theory, which argues for the importance of starting from the experiences of those who have been traditionally left out of the production of knowledge. By starting inquiry from the lived experiences of women and others who have been traditionally outside of the institutions in which knowledge about social life is generated and classified, more objective and more relevant knowledge can be produced. Naples also stated that Harding argued that knowledge produced from the point of view of subordinated groups may offer stronger objectivity due to the increased motivation for them to understand the views or perspectives of those in positions of power. A scholar who approaches the research process from the point of view of strong objectivity is interested in producing knowledge for use as well as for revealing the relations of power that are hidden in traditional knowledge production processes. Strong objectivity acknowledges that the production of power is a political process and that greater attention paid to the context and social location of knowledge producers will contribute to a more ethical and transparent result.
Critique
Just like any other theories, the standpoint theory also has its critiques. Standpoint Theory relies on essentialism and the complaint that it focuses on the dualisms of subjectivity and objectivity. Essentialism refers to the practice of generalizing about all women (or any group) as though they were essentially the same. Essentialism obscures the diversity that exists among women. Because standpoint theory focuses on the location of social groups, many researchers have argued that it is essentialist. West and Turner stated that an author by the name of Catherine O'Leary (1997) argued that although Standpoint Theory has been helpful in reclaiming women's experiences as suitable research topics, it contains a problematic emphasis on the universality of this experience, at the expense of differences among women's experiences. The other critique of Harding and Wood's standpoint theory that was mentioned is the dualism of strong objectivity and subjectivity. In postmodern fashion, standpoint theorists argue that standpoints are relative and cannot be evaluated by any absolute criteria, yet they propose that the oppressed are less biased or more impartial than the privileged. Feminists note that much of Western thought is organized around a set of oppositions, or dualisms. Reason and emotion, public and private, nature and culture, and subject and object are just a few of the pairs of opposites that are common organizing principles in Western thinking. Feminists have been concerned with these dualisms for two related reasons. First, dualisms usually imply a hierarchical relationship between the terms, elevating one and devaluing the other. He also said that when we suggest that decisions should be made rationally, not emotionally, for example, we are showing that reason holds a higher value in our culture than does emotion. also, related to this issue is the concern that these dualisms often become gendered in our culture. In this process, men are associated with one extreme and women with the other. In the case of reason and emotion, women are identified with emotion. Because our culture values emotion less than reason, women suffer from this association. Feminist critics are usually concerned with the fact that dualisms force false dichotomies (partition of a whole) onto women and men, failing to see that life is less either/or than both/and, as Relational Dialectics Theory holds.
Discourse
Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...
s. "Developed primarily by social scientists, especially sociologists & political theorists. It extends some of the early insights about consciousness that emerged from Marxist/socialist feminist theories and the wider conversations about identity politics. It endeavors to develop a feminist epistemology
Feminist epistemology
Feminist epistemology is concerned with the way in which gender influences our concept of knowledge and "practices of inquiry and justification". It comes under the umbrella of social epistemology, the broad set of approaches to the study of knowledge. Elisabeth Anderson argues that the concept of...
, or theory of knowledge, that delineates a method for constructing effective knowledge from the insights of women's experience." It arose amongst feminist theorists, such as Dorothy Smith, Nancy Hartsock
Nancy Hartsock
Nancy Hartsock is a feminist philosopher. She is known for her work in feminist epistemology and standpoint theory, especially the essay "The Feminist Standpoint", which also integrates Melanie Klein's theories on psychoanalysis and the Oedipal crisis...
, Donna Haraway
Donna Haraway
Donna J. Haraway is currently a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, United States...
, Sandra Harding
Sandra Harding
Sandra G. Harding is an American philosopher of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology and philosophy of science.She has contributed to standpoint theory and to the multicultural study of science...
, Alison Wylie
Alison Wylie
Alison Wylie is a Canadian feminist philosopher of science at the University of Washington, Seattle. In her own words, Wylie describes her interests in the following:...
, and Patricia Hill Collins
Patricia Hill Collins
Patricia Hill Collins, is Distinguished University Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park, former head of the Department of African American Studies at the University of Cincinnati and past President of the American Sociological Association Council...
.
According to this approach:
- A standpoint is a place from which human beings view the worldWorldWorld is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth....
. - A standpoint influences how the people adopting it socially construct the world.
- Social group membership affects people's standpoints.
- The inequalities of different social groups create differences in their standpoints.
- All standpoints are partial; so (for example) Standpoint feminismStandpoint feminismStandpoint feminism argues that feminist social science should be practiced from the standpoint of women or particular groups of women as some claim that they are better equipped to understand certain aspects of the world...
coexists with other standpoints.
Standpoint theory supports what Harding calls strong objectivity
Strong objectivity
Strong objectivity is a term first used by standpoint feminist Sandra Harding to describe research that starts from the experiences of those who have traditionally been left out of the production of knowledge. Harding suggests that starting research from the lives of women "actually strengthens...
, or the notion that the perspectives of marginalized and/or oppressed individuals can help to create more objective accounts of the world. Through the outsider-within phenomenon, these individuals are in a unique position to point to patterns of behavior that those immersed in the dominant group culture are unable to recognize. Standpoint theory gives voice to the marginalized groups by allowing them to challenge the status quo as the outsider within. The status quo representing the dominant white male position of privilege.
The predominant culture in which all groups exist is not experienced in the same way by all persons or groups. The views of those who belong to groups with more social power are validated more than those in marginalized groups. Those in marginalized groups must learn to be bicultural, or to "pass" in the dominant culture
Dominant culture
The dominant culture in a society refers to the established language, religion, behavior, values, rituals, and social customs. These traits are often the norm for the society as a whole...
to survive, even though that perspective is not their own. For persons of color, in an effort to help organizations achieve their diversity initiatives, there is an expectation that they will check their color at the door in order to assimilate into the existing culture and discursive practices.
Standpoint of black feminist thought
Black feminist thought is a collection of ideas, writings, and art that articulates a standpoint of and for black women of the African Diaspora. Black feminist thought describes black women as a unique group that exists in a “place” in US social relations where intersectional processes of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and sexual orientation shape black women's individual and collective consciousness, self-definitions, and actions As a standpoint theory, black feminist thought conceptualizes identities as organic, fluid, interdependent, multiple, and dynamic socially constructed “locations” within historical context. Black feminist thought is grounded in black women's historical experience with enslavement, anti-lynching movements, segregation, Civil Rights and Black Power movements, sexual politics, capitalism, and patriarchy. Distinctive tenets of contemporary black feminist thought include: (1) the belief that self-authorship and the legitimatization of partial, subjugated knowledge represents a unique and diverse standpoint of and by black women; (2) black women's experiences with multiple oppressions result in needs, expectations, ideologies, and problems that are different than those of black men and white women; and (3) black feminist consciousness is an ever-evolving concept. Black feminist thought demonstrates Black women's emerging power as agents of knowledge. By portraying African-American women as self-defined, self-reliant individuals confronting race, gender, and class oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that oppression, Afrocentric feminist thought speaks to the importance that knowledge plays in empowering oppressed people.One distinguishing feature of Black feminist thought is its insistence that both the changed consciousness of individuals and the social transformation of political and economic institutions constitute essential ingredients for social change. New knowledge is important for both dimensions to change.
Tina Campt
Tina Campt
Tina Campt is Associate Professor Women's Studies at Barnard University.Campt was educated at Vassar College, gaining a BA in 1986. She then attended Cornell University in 1990 gaining her MA in 1990 and her PhD in 1996....
uses standpoint theory to examine the narrative of the Afro-German Hans Hauck
Hans Hauck
Hans Hauck was an Afro-German survivor of the Nazi regime in Germany.Hans was born in Frankfurt in 1920. He was the son of an Algerian soldier serving in the French Army. In 1933 he joined the Hitler Youth while living in Saarland . An SS officer helped get him work on the railway...
in her book Other Germans.
A feminist standpoint
Feminist standpoint theorists make three principal claims: (1) Knowledge is socially situated. (2) Marginalized groups are socially situated in ways that make it more possible for them to be aware of things and ask questions than it is for the non-marginalized. (3) Research, particularly that focused on power relations, should begin with the lives of the marginalized.
The history of feminist standpoint begins in Hegel’s account of the master/slave dialectic, and subsequently in Marx and, particularly, Lukacs’ development of the idea of the standpoint of the proletariat. In 1807, German philosopher Georg Hegel analyzed the master-slave relationship to show that what people "know" about themselves, others, and society depends on which group they are in.. Hegel stated that slave who were oppressed can eventually reach a state of freedom of consciousness as a result of his or her realization of self-consciousness through struggles against the master, and via involvement through physical labor in projects that enable her/him to fashion the world to affect it in various ways. Hegel further went on to give an example saying that those in captivity have a decidedly different perspective on the meaning of chains, laws, childbirth, and punishment than do their captors who participate in the same "reality." He also added that since masters are backed by the established structure of their society, it is they who have the power to make their view of the world; they are the ones who write the story books.
Feminist standpoint theorists such as Dorothy Smith, Patricia Hill Collins, Nancy Hartsock, and Sandra Harding claimed that certain socio-political positions occupied by women (and by extension other groups who lack social and economic privilege) can become sites of epistemic privilege and thus productive starting points for enquiry into questions about not only those who are socially and politically marginalized, but also those who, by dint of social and political privilege, occupy the positions of oppressors. This claim was specifically generated by Sandra Harding and as such, "Starting off research from women’s lives will generate less partial and distorted accounts not only of women’s lives but also of men’s lives and of the whole social order.”
There has been agreements between feminist standpoint theorist that a standpoint is not just a perspective that is occupied simply by the fact of being a woman. Whereas a perspective is occupied as a matter of the fact of one’s socio-historical position and may well provide the starting point for the emergence of a standpoint, a standpoint is earned through the experience of collective political struggle, a struggle that requires both science and politics. He then went to to say that while both the dominant and the dominated occupy perspectives, the dominated are much more successfully placed to achieve a standpoint. However, this is not saying that those who occupy perspectives that are not-marginalized cannot help in reaching a shared critical conscientious with relation to the effects of power structures and epistemic production. Only through such struggles can we begin to see beneath the appearances created by an unjust social order to the reality of how this social order is in fact constructed and maintained. This need for struggle emphasizes the fact that a feminist standpoint is not something that anyone can have simply by claiming it. It is an achievement. A standpoint differs in this respect from a perspective, which anyone can have simply by ‘opening one’s eyes.’
Strong Objectivity and the relation to feminist standpoint
The notion of strong objectivity was first articulated by feminist philosopher Sandra Harding. Strong objectivity builds on the insights of feminist standpoint theory, which argues for the importance of starting from the experiences of those who have been traditionally left out of the production of knowledge. By starting inquiry from the lived experiences of women and others who have been traditionally outside of the institutions in which knowledge about social life is generated and classified, more objective and more relevant knowledge can be produced. Naples also stated that Harding argued that knowledge produced from the point of view of subordinated groups may offer stronger objectivity due to the increased motivation for them to understand the views or perspectives of those in positions of power. A scholar who approaches the research process from the point of view of strong objectivity is interested in producing knowledge for use as well as for revealing the relations of power that are hidden in traditional knowledge production processes. Strong objectivity acknowledges that the production of power is a political process and that greater attention paid to the context and social location of knowledge producers will contribute to a more ethical and transparent result.
Critique
Just like any other theories, the standpoint theory also has its critiques. Standpoint Theory relies on essentialism and the complaint that it focuses on the dualisms of subjectivity and objectivity. Essentialism refers to the practice of generalizing about all women (or any group) as though they were essentially the same. Essentialism obscures the diversity that exists among women. Because standpoint theory focuses on the location of social groups, many researchers have argued that it is essentialist. West and Turner stated that an author by the name of Catherine O'Leary (1997) argued that although Standpoint Theory has been helpful in reclaiming women's experiences as suitable research topics, it contains a problematic emphasis on the universality of this experience, at the expense of differences among women's experiences. The other critique of Harding and Wood's standpoint theory that was mentioned is the dualism of strong objectivity and subjectivity. In postmodern fashion, standpoint theorists argue that standpoints are relative and cannot be evaluated by any absolute criteria, yet they propose that the oppressed are less biased or more impartial than the privileged. Feminists note that much of Western thought is organized around a set of oppositions, or dualisms. Reason and emotion, public and private, nature and culture, and subject and object are just a few of the pairs of opposites that are common organizing principles in Western thinking. Feminists have been concerned with these dualisms for two related reasons. First, dualisms usually imply a hierarchical relationship between the terms, elevating one and devaluing the other. He also said that when we suggest that decisions should be made rationally, not emotionally, for example, we are showing that reason holds a higher value in our culture than does emotion. also, related to this issue is the concern that these dualisms often become gendered in our culture. In this process, men are associated with one extreme and women with the other. In the case of reason and emotion, women are identified with emotion. Because our culture values emotion less than reason, women suffer from this association. Feminist critics are usually concerned with the fact that dualisms force false dichotomies (partition of a whole) onto women and men, failing to see that life is less either/or than both/and, as Relational Dialectics Theory holds.